i051002 TROST InfoNote What Computers Know

TROSTing>info> 2005>10> i051002> 0.80 2006-09-04 13:30 -0700

In exploring what it means to associate trustworthiness with software, I chose to look at the software delivery process, what we have come to call the deployment of the software into use.  That led me to wonder how to characterize just exactly what is delivered and the relationship in which its producers and adopters are engaged.  From there it became important to understand how we manage to have a computer carry out procedures of which it can have no comprehension of the intended purpose.  Building from that perspective, I propose to tease out exactly how it is that computation works and what it takes to arrive at computer-augmented systems in support of human enterprise.

— Dennis E. Hamilton
Seattle, Washington
February 3, 2006

1. Approach

This TROST InfoNote is the first stage of a five-part development.  The culmination is an approach to the trustworthy accomplishment of computer-augmented systems:

A. What Computers Know

Establishing that the innate behavior of a computer lacks all knowledge of the external world and the purpose for the computational procedures that are performed
    

B. The Working of Computation

The relationship between the representation of a computation as carried out by computer and the purposeful function it realizes
    

C. What Programmers Know

The invention required to establish a computer representation that fits the intended purpose and use of the computational procedure
    

D. Enterprise-Situated Computing

The life cycles in which software, its support and its revisions are introduced into the work processes and activities of an enterprise
    

E. Trustworthy Accomplishment

Practices by which trustworthiness is demonstrated and preserved in the stages of software development and in the engagement of developers and adopters as the software is introduced, maintained, and ultimately retired

2. Document Engineering

• i051002b: What Computers Know - latest material
• i051002f: 0.80 What Computers Know - But What's the Use?
• i051002d: Digital-Human Programs
• i051002a: What Computers Know - Diary and Job Jar

3. Additional Resources

see also:

2006-02-14 Praxis 101: Virtuous Pain of Documentation

2006-02-10 Praxis 101: What Computers Know Can't Help Me, Most of the Work Is Mine

2006-02-03 Orcmid's Lair: What Computers Know

2005-10-25 Orcmid's Lair: What Programmers Do

 

Revision History:
0.80 2006-09-04-13:29 Link Updates

The blog article corresponding to i051002f is linked as an additional resource.  Links to external material are corrected and supplemented in this version.

0.75 2006-02-03-06:25 Current Published Version

A published version is created that is the basis for a blog article on the subject.

0.25 2005-10-26-10:58 Rough Draft posting

Provide table of content available so far and used for rough-draft review

0.00 2005-10-12-05:24 Establish Placeholder for Pending Material

Also start a job jar page for recording work items for building more content.  This page is a customization of the InfoNote Bootstrap Template 0.20 template.  A version from Develop InfoNote Bootstrap Template 0.20 Material was used.

You are navigating TROSTing.org. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

created 2005-10-12-05:24 -0700 (pdt) by orcmid $$Author: Orcmid $ $$Date: 06-09-04 13:30 $ $$Revision: 73 $